THE
MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE FACTOR in the valuation of a first edition is
condition. (Some people go so far as to say it is the only factor.)
For modern first editions published since the turn of the Twentieth
century, the most important element in pricing is the condition of
the dust jacket. The reason for this is obvious: the jacket is the
most fragile and vulnerable element of a book.

A
hundred years ago, the dust jackets only use was to protect the
book it covered from damage, but that quickly changed when publishers
began printing promotional material on dust jackets. In a relatively
short period of timeless than 20 years, from roughly the first
decade of the Twentieth century to the early 1920sdust jacket
design evolved into a sophisticated sales tool for
publishers.

Despite the fact that some of the most wonderful dust jacket
art was produced in the first half of the Twentieth century (Francis
Cugats glorious image for The Great Gatsby was published in
1925), collectors were relatively slow to appreciate that it was
important to protect jackets. Many collectors routinely threw dust
jackets away, preferring the more uniform look of jacketless books on
their shelves.

The
earliest use of dust jacket protectors began in lending libraries
during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Both public libraries and,
especially, the lending libraries established by book and department
stores for the many customers could not afford to purchase books,
used plastic jacket protectors to extend the lives of their books.

In
the beginning these protectors were relatively primitive. They often
had glue strips designed to hold jackets in place that left a gummy
black residue on the edges of the dust jackets. The protectors were
often taped into the books, leaving telltale residual marks on the
endpapers.

This
changed in the second half of the Twentieth century when canny
booksellers began to realize that books with fresh dust jackets sold
much more readily than those with damaged or missing jackets. Even
so, some booksellers and scouts resisted the use of jacket
protectors, often for aesthetic reasons. I recall a dinner with a
legendary scout who asked me if I kept my books in
plastic. He had never become used to the reflective nature of
jacket protectors; he preferred his books without them.

My
answer was that once I realized I was a collector, I began putting
all my books in dust jacket protectors. The first thing I do when I
buy a book is put a fresh archival quality protector on the dust
jacket. Given todays market, it is sheer foolishness to do
anything else. The dust jacket carries at least 80 percent of the
value of any first edition. It would be silly not to spend the few
cents on a protector to insure it retains its freshness and thus its
value. In addition, I have come to enjoy looking at my books in jacketprotectors.
Rather than detracting from the aesthetic value, they add to it.

Opinions vary widely among sellers and collectors about the
relative merits of the various brands of jacket protectors.
Collectors should buy dust jacket protectors made from archival
quality materials that do not require tape and/or adhesive to apply
them to the jacket. Most library supply houses, including the
leadersBro-Dart, Gaylord and Demcomanufacture a wide
range of jacket protectors, and clearly designate in their literature
which are archival quality. Collectors may purchase these directly
from the manufacturers or from many booksellers.

Dust
jacket protectors are the best and least expensive insurance
available for your books. Cover em up!